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In pictures: Giant armadillos provide for other animals

Giant armadillos are "ecosystem engineers" according to researchers who tracked the use of the animals' burrows in Brazil. The Pantanal Giant Armadillo Project aims to learn more about the secretive animals that spend 75% of their time underground in burrows dug out by their impressive claws

Using motion sensitive cameras, scientists recorded 24 different species using the armadillos' homes for a variety of purposes including this ocelot which hunted lizards and other small prey at the mouth of the burrow.

A family of coatis were also photographed by the camera traps searching for their prey in the sandy mound at the mouth of the armadillo's burrow.

Mammals were not the only animals attracted to the burrows and birds species, such as sereima (pictured), jay and curassow were captured on camera.

Large mammals, such as this pair of pumas, chose the burrow as a resting spot.

Lowland tapir - and the accompanying purplish jay (Cyanocorax cyanomelas) - were also recorded resting on the sandy mound formed from the material excavated by the armadillo while digging out the burrow.

Giant armadillo burrows can be up to 5m deep. Researchers recorded feral pigs (pictured), white lipped peccaries and collared peccaries wallowing in the sandy mound when the soil was fresh and still humid after excavation.

Agoutis (pictured) and collared peccaries were recorded entering and leaving the burrows, sometimes in pairs.

In total, three other species of armadillo were recorded using the burrow for sustained time periods. They included the nine banded armadillo (pictured), southern naked tail armadillo and yellow armadillo.

Southern tamanduas, also known as collared anteaters, had the most prolonged visits to the armadillo burrow and were observed feeding on termites or ants while they were there.

"It’s amazing to see that such a secretive species which occurs at such low densities can play such an important role within the ecological community," said project co-ordinator Arnaud Desbiez, Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. He hopes that the revelation of the animals' key role in ecosystems could earn them greater protection.

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